A GIRL student has been elected the student union president of Saket PG College in Ayodhya, as an ABVP nominee. The ABVP, the students’ wing of the RSS, said Ekta Singh — a student of MA second-year in English — is the first girl to win student elections in the college. ABVP won the post in the college after eight years.

Ekta defeated Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha candidate Deepak Yadav with a margin of 27 votes on Thursday. The ABVP, however, lost the remaining three posts — vice-president, general secretary and deputy secretary — which it had won last year. While two of the posts were won by the SP students’ wing, one went to an Independent candidate.

Saket is the lone college in Faizabad where student union elections were held this year. “I joined ABVP in 2015 because I was impressed with its ideology and activities that it took up in the interest of students. This is the first time that I contested an election,” said Ekta, whose father works as a contractor in Faizabad.

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When contacted, ABVP state secretary Raman said: “This is the first time that a girl has been elected president in Saket PG College. Ekta has been active on issues faced by women in the college for the last one year and hence, was considered as a candidate for the president’s post.” ABVP organisation secretary of UP and Uttarakhand, Dharmpal, said the unit has been promoting girls in student union politics.

“This year, among ABVP’s 52 candidates who won posts in student union elections in Meerut University and its 16 affiliated colleges, 29 are girls. ABVP has also fielded girls for the posts of president and vice-president in the student elections in Agra University,” he added. “In the last two years, a change has been witnessed… more and more girls are coming out to contest student union elections in UP. The ABVP is giving preference to them if they are found eligible,” said Dharmpal. Ekta’s elder sister Shweta is the zila panchayat chairman of Faizabad, supported by SP.